We had someone from the credit card industry come explain themselves to our Assoc. meeting. What percentage they offer you has little to do with the percentage of your sales that actually goes to them, but I am sure you all know that already.
The formula you should go with is - take the amount you PAID the credit card company for a given month. The actual total they took out of your bank account that month, (including all the discounts, statement fees, access charges, extra fees - all of it - whatever they want to call it), and divide it by the total of your credit card sales. Example - if you paid them $150 and your total sales were $5000 - 150 divided by 5000 = .03, or 3% This is what you are paying to the credit card processor, and it will change slightly every month. Yes...the hidden fees of the processors that say they are giving you a great deal at 1.59% are a joke and are the worst offenders with this game. They talk the talk - "qualified" "non qualified" blah, blah, blah. It means nothing. Rewards cards are the norm in use for credit cards these days at our inn, and they carry one of the highest rates. No resemblance to the great rate you are offered.
After checking this on six months of statement you should have a good idea of what your processor is actually charging you. I just got burned with TransFirst, and got out of my contract. I have decided that I am going to go with a company that caters to inns and charges a flat rate every month of 2.19% for all transactions, with no statement fee. 2.19% of the credit card sales - period. You don't even have to swipe the cards, as doing it manually (keying in) will bring you the same rate. I asked about this in the other forum and I have has great feedback about this processor. The are called InnPayment. The mother company is Yapstone. Rates are based on how risky an industry is and are offered to that industry accordingly.
Boy, I can go on and on sometimes. Thanks for putting up with it!.